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Friday, November 3, 2017

Show Notes: Celebrity Bowling

*Celebrity Bowling was syndicated, but best we can tell, this episode (Leslie Nielsen and Susan Saint James versus Angie Dickinson and Lloyd Bridges) premiered April 30, 1975.

*The series is on Amazon Prime and YouTube but no longer on Hulu.

*McMillan and Wife was part of NBC's Mystery Movie wheel from 1971 to 1977 and starred Saint James, Rock Hudson, and Nancy Walker (plus John Shuck, who is also mentioned in this episode). Hudson was a San Fran police commissioner.

*Joe Forrester was a spinoff of anthology Police Story (produced by David Gerber, who also did Police Woman). It only lasted one season (1975-1976) on NBC.

*Leslie Nielsen was in a "frequent guest star" phase, appearing in numerous one-shots and recurring roles all over the place at the time.

*Jed Allan played Don Craig on Days of Our Lives from 1971 to 1985 and had shorter stints on General Hospital and Lassie. He was Steve Sanders' demanding father Rush on Beverly Hills 90210.

*Cheryl Kominsky (now Robinson) is a Hall of Fame bowler who, as this profile puts it, "brought a charismatic charm and movie-star looks to a ladies’ tour dogged by the perceptions of female pro athletes that prevailed at the time. " I still think she could have explained the best ball format better, though.

*White Consolidated Industries started as The White Manufacturing Company, became The White Sewing Machine Company, and eventually purchased Westinghouse's appliance business. Electrolux bought the company in 1986, and the White-Westinghouse brand appears to be dormant.

*The social theory we refer to on the podcast is the "social capital theory" developed by Robert D. Putnam and explained in his 200 book Bowling Alone. According to Wikipedia, He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives. He argues that this undermines the active civil engagement, which a strong democracy requires from its citizens. Bowling is just one example of the forms of "social intercourse" that have declined. See also fraternal organizations, Girl and Boy Scouts, veterans groups, etc.

*Evander Holyfield was a former Cruiserweight and Heavyweight boxing champion, while Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff was a pro wrestler whose career peaked with a big feud against Hulk Hogan in the WWF.

*Dan August was a Quinn Martin series on NBC 1970-1971. Check out the awesome opening in our YouTube playlist for this episode.